December 12, 2013

An Advent Daybook

Outside my window :: It is cold!! The temperature is in the teens right now, with a wind chill of 5 degrees. There is snow on the ground. We have been having a lot of fun with that snow. With all of the leaves gone off of the trees you can really see a lot of the landscape. It is breathtaking to look out our back windows and see red barns and silos dotting the hills. I still can’t believe we live here.

Around the house:: Lots of laundry. I have about eight loads to run through the machines. Folding will not happen until this weekend I’m sure. Two bathrooms to be cleaned today. The rest of the place is not in that bad of shape.

I am thinking about:: How quiet and slow our Advent has been. We have been so sick here, since before thanksgiving. I believe it is mostly gone expect for a lingering sinus infection for some of us. At least we don’t feel like we’re going to die. Which is how we felt a couple of weeks ago. So, our preparation has been slow. Everyday we add to the decorations. We still don’t have a Christmas tree. I still have a lot of shopping to do, just not motivated to do it. That never happens!! We’ve been reading our Advent/Christmas books. It has just been very low key. And that is probably how it should be.

I am creating:: Mary Jane and I are going to work on making peppermint foot scrub today. We are going to package it in mason jars and they will be teacher gifts and gifts for her ballet buddies. We are also pulling together some crafts for tomorrow. We are having some homeschooling friends over to celebrate the feast of St. Lucy.

I am thankful for:: our parish. Sickness and bad weather has kept us from our home parish for weeks now. We have been attending the local parishes by us. But oh how I miss the Latin and incense and heavenly organ music and seeing fifteen altar servers assisting with Mass, and our Priest!! A couple of the kids have commented how we are missing Advent at our church and how sad they are and “when are we going back?!?!”

I am praying for::

~ Joe and Julia and their success with midterms coming up this next week.

~ Our continued health. So thankful that we don’t have anything major going on. I think of those with terminal illness and how they suffer. I pray for them.

~ Pregnant mamas and their babies. I know of a lot of expectant mamas right now. It is wonderful!! ~Private intentions. Lots of private intentions.

I reading/watching::

~The Lost Tools of Writing teacher DVD’s. My goal is to have these finished by January first. Mary Jane uses this program in Challenge A. It is totally different from anything else we have done, so there is a bit of a learning curve. But so far, we really like the program. It really helps you to dissect a book and pick out themes and conflicts.

From the school room:: Homeschooling kids are on official break from Classical Conversations. Mary Jane had midterms and finished this past Tuesday. She has work to finish for her return in January. Everyone else is still working. Our goal is to work one more week and take a break for Christmas. We are a tad bit behind because of our illnesses. That’s okay, we will make adjustments and go on from there. It’s all about being flexible.

About Me

Hi, my name is Kirsten. I am married to my best friend and we have nine awesome children including our little saint in heaven, Thomas Joseph. We are Catholic, loving, living, and learning about our faith every day. We just moved to a fixer upper farm here in beautiful Kentucky. We also homeschool some of our children. I really enjoy COFFEE, reading, gardening, running, and knitting. I try to enjoy, laundry and cleaning bathrooms and sweeping floors. But what I really love is to be home, with my husband and children, living this life. This blog is where I write about the good stuff (mostly). Thanks for stopping by!

how nice

St. Josemaria Escriva

St Francis De Sales

Prayer to St. Joseph

PRAYER TO ST. JOSEPH THE WORKMAN
Composed by Pope St. Pius X
O glorious St. Joseph, model of all those who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above my natural inclinations, to work with gratitude and joy, in a spirit of penance for the remission of my sins, considering it an honor to employ and develop by means of labor the gifts received from God, to work with order, peace, moderation and patience, without ever shrinking from weariness and difficulties, to work above all with purity of intention and detachment from self, having always death before my eyes and the account that I must render of time lost, of talents wasted, of good omitted, of vain complacency in success, so fatal to the work of God. All for Jesus, all through Mary, all after thine example, O Patriarch, St. Joseph. Such shall be my watchword in life and in death. Amen.